Personal safety shouldn't be at risk
On reputations, unemployment, and the unacceptable nature of expecting politicians to tolerate threats to their personal safety
The attempt to kill Pennsylvania's governor by throwing Molotov cocktails into the governor's residence deserves the most widespread condemnation that Americans can offer. The attacker's motivations appear to have been political, which causes the incident to meet the strict definition of terrorism: Violence committed with the intention of achieving a political outcome.
■ Engaging in politics can certainly come with a variety of risks. Plainly, a person who engages in politics runs a reputational risk: In seeking office, one puts their good name out to be judged by other people. What is said and done both in campaigning and, for the victors, in governing, can come back to either enhance or diminish the standing of that good name.
■ Related to that reputational risk, a politician invariably runs an income and occupational risk. If one runs for a full-time job with a full-time effort and falls short on election day, then the day after election day can be the first day of unemployment. That is risk enough to keep many people from even contemplating a run for office.
■ But no pursuit of office or term of service should bring with it a real risk to life and limb. There are far more than enough factors already discouraging decent people from running for office as it is. A sober concern for the safety of self and family shouldn't need to be layered on top of them.
